Simplicity of a PenPal
by HermiCho247
Summary: It's a new year for all Hogwarts students, but to get their minds off of the fear of the Dark One, they're being assigned pen pals in the very school! What will happen when too many secrets are told, and are seen by the wrong person? R+R plz
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Hullo, this is Jennifer(also Cho Potter1 on fanfic) one of the owners to this account. I share this account with my best friend Brittni we will be creating stories together. I will be writing the first chapter and then she will be writing the second one. It will be a pattern so I hope you like this story and please review!! ^_^  
  
It was a brand new day at Hogwarts, the summer holidays had passed quickly then anybody would have been pleased with. It was the second day coming in to Hogwarts, remembering the previous night where the feast and the Sorting Ceremony in the Great Hall was held, was buzzing through all of the students minds. Remembering how beautiful the hall looked that night with the fire glistening brightly, and the ceiling being a calming clear blue sky. It was the sad truth though, that they could've enjoyed the new year a little better if they weren't living in fear. The fear of Lord Voldemort coming back to power was still in their minds. From the events of Professor Umbridge taking over Hogwarts, filling their mind with lies, all of them had once believed that Harry Potter was lying about the Dark Lord really being back. Some of them had even disregarded it because of their parents being so close to the ministry. But not this year, not at this time, now they started to believe everything that they had heard, now they lived in the fear that they were destined for from the beginning.   
  
It was a beautiful day though. It was a new day in which nobody knew what was to come out of it. Whether there would be grief and sorrow or joy and happiness. And now everybody could sense it, things were different now. Their attitudes against Harry Potter had changed completely. Everybody had sheer respect for him, no flaws, they just wanted to know what to do to protect themselves, they wanted to follow Harry Potter in hopes to be able to help him. Cho Chang, a seventh year ravenclaw just shook her head at the thought. She was heading to the Great Hall with her friend Marietta, hoping to get their schedules. It had been a rough time for Cho, she was still trying to get over Cedric's demise. She was still trying to heal from the disastrous year she had from attempting to get closer to another boy who she felt would have finally given her peace. Cho shook her head again and pressed her hands lightly against her face, rubbing her eyes to clear her mind. She let out a sigh and took a seat down at the Ravenclaw table, back turned to Harry, whom she knew was looking directly at her. She could feel the heat of the stare racing up the hairs on her neck. She shuddered slightly and just waited patiently for her schedule to come by as her friends started to chat away about gossip, the pointless fantasy things.   
  
"Do you believe that Michael Corner could've been so low as to just sell Cho out like that?" Marietta said as she chewed on a piece of toast.  
  
"Oh I know! It's not even right! Claiming that Cho had said yes to date him when we all clearly know she wouldn't." Another Ravenclaw, a blonde, had said.   
  
"How did you get that Corner guy straightened out though Cho?" Marietta asked.  
  
"Gave the bl00dy little git a piece of my mind, he'll be sporting a nice black spot on his face for a while." Cho said as she sipped on a goblet of orange juice messing with her hair a little bit.   
  
"Amazing how news did spread though Cho. Now you're the beautiful Cho Chang who is yet again single. Every guy in Hogwarts is waiting to see who your next beau will be." Marietta said.  
  
"Well I can tell you myself, I won't be having one. I'm just not ready to be hurt again." Cho said.   
  
All of the girls looked at her with disbelief. Cho just shook her head and sighed looking up to the staff table waiting for her schedule to come by. She just wanted to get out, away from everything for a couple of moments before she knew what classes were to come.   
  
"Schedules here!" A red haired Ravenclaw exclaimed.  
  
Marietta had given Cho her schedule and she saw that she had Double Divination briefly after breakfast. She groaned in dismay and noticed a red piece of paper attached to her schedule.  
  
"Er…what's this?" Cho asked the red haired Ravenclaw.  
  
"Oh I'll have to be collecting that from yeh. This year the words out that all students will be receiving pen pals." They replied.   
  
"But why? What will it prove?" Cho asked.  
  
"I don't know, just something good ol' Dumbledore thought up of. I personally think it's brilliant. Just put down a nickname and then give it to me." They replied once again.  
  
Cho just looked at the rest of the girls and then shrugged. She took out a quill and a bottle of ink, thinking about of a nickname. Finally after a couple of moments of thinking Cho had finally put down "RavenAngel"   
  
"What's that suppose to mean?" Marietta asked taking a glance at Cho's red paper.  
  
"It's just a nickname Marietta." Cho said a little irritated.   
  
These days Cho was getting very uncomfortable hanging out with Marietta, after all she had done to Cho last year…after all she had done to Harry. Cho shook her head again to get the thoughts of Harry out of her head. It seemed to have gone like that throughout the whole summer. Cho handed the slip to the red haired ravenclaw and quickly got her stuff. She told her friends she wanted to head to the Divination Tower by herself. They just agreed and told her they'd meet up with her later. Cho picked up her bag over her shoulders and pulled her long black curtain hair behind her, heading for the door. She stopped suddenly as she saw Harry and his friends heading for the door. She sat down not looking at them for a moment, she turned to the door again and saw that they were gone. She got up and headed out, analyzing everything in her mind. She knew she couldn't avoid Harry forever, but why was it that she was so scared to even talk to him. As she headed up the stairs to Divination she could see Harry out of the corner of her eye, he was looking at her expecting her to see him wave and she did. She briefly turned her head, smiled slightly and waved to him blushing. She noticed Ron and Hermione taking one of Harry's arms and pulling him with them to the class as he waved back to her.   
  
Cho sighed. "They must think I'm horrible for what I did last year to Harry." She thought.  
  
With another heave of her bag over her shoulders, she continued up the stairs heading up to Double Divination, her mind still buzzing with thoughts of confusion, pain, and of Harry.   
  
~**************************************************~  
  
As Cho climbed up the ladder to the same heavily humid room, she saw a table near a window and quickly rushed over to it, to at least be able to breathe. Cho raised an eyebrow as she saw a big golden bowl lying on Professor Trelawney's desk. Before long, more Ravenclaws and sadly Slytherins were entering in to the room. Marietta and a blonde Ravenclaw had come in to the room and immediately took some seats at Cho's table.  
  
"Cho I would like you to meet Samantha Grint. Bumped into her in the hallway, really amazing person." Marietta said quickly as she took out some parchment and a quill.  
  
"Pleasure to meet you Samantha." Cho said as she put her hand to shake.  
  
Samantha smiled brightly, and shook Cho's hand.  
  
"You're like the beauty legend of the decade Cho! Every girl almost wants to have your life!" Samantha said.  
  
"Trust me…my life isn't all fun and happiness…" Cho replied trying to smile.  
  
"Oh don't be ridiculous! You're beautiful, popular, have all of the good looking guys wishing to have your heart what more could be possible ask for?" Marietta asked.  
  
"A lot…a lot that I know some of these guys probably cannot give me." Cho said sternly.   
  
Marietta was about to say something again but suddenly Professor Trelawney had walked in, with the same misty look in her eyes, with about five shawls on her, her beady little eyes still looking through huge bifocals.   
  
"Good Morning Class." Professor Trelawney said in her mystical voice.  
  
"Good Morning Professor Trelawney." A Dull reply came from the class.  
  
Professor Trelawney continued to graze around the classroom, sniffing in the heavily scented perfume, catching the aroma.   
  
"I feel…a sense of very good era in this room. So much power, so much potential." Professor Trelawney said.   
  
"And so much wonder, what's in the goblet?" A Slytherin blurted out.  
  
This made the Slytherins laugh menacingly and stupidly. The Ravenclaws just glared at them, they didn't find it funny at all.   
  
"Funny you should ask Mr. Johnson." Professor Trelawney said. "Is your curious mind pondering what's in this goblet?"   
  
"That's what I just said, what's in the goblet? Can you not hear properly?" Johnson blurted out again.  
  
The Slytherins began to laugh again. Professor Trelawney took no heed to his words and just smiled as she wrapped her small hands around the stalk of the goblet.   
  
"I believe you all received a small piece of red paper along with your schedule, am I correct?" Professor Trelawney said.  
  
"For once yes." Johnson blurted again.  
  
"And I suppose," Professor Trelawney continued quickly, "That you all had written down a nickname?"   
  
"Yes Professor." The class said in unison.  
  
"Well then, it is my pleasure to inform you, about a new experiment we're going to try this year. Every student in Hogwarts will be assigned a…how will I put this…a pen pal. Only the beauty of it is, your pen pal won't be away in far countries or different worlds. Oh no, your pen pal will be right here in Hogwarts." Professor Trelawney said smiling.  
  
There was a dull silence in the room as people stared at her in disbelief. A pen pal? What would they need a pen pal for? As Cho and the rest of the class lined up to pick a piece of red paper out of the goblet, Professor Trelawney continued to explain about the experiment.   
  
"For the whole school year, including on the holidays you will send your pen pal an owl. During this time you will get to know your pen pal, share your secrets with them when you're ready to trust them, and most importantly, you may even get to meet this pen pal of yours if you're witty and smart to find out who it is. This goblet is in my class right now of course with the permission of Dumbledore, but you will see this lying on the staff table in the Great Hall. No switches can be made, you are assigned to who you picked out of the goblet. But you are however free to owl the friends of your pen pal. But just one friend, that is the limit." Professor Trelawney explained.  
  
As soon as everybody had chosen a name from the Goblet, Professor Trelawney got back to her desk and left the class with one final statement as they prepared to leave. Cho took one glance down at the paper and raised an eyebrow slightly at the nickname. But all the same she thought it was ok. She stood up as Professor Trelawney made the statement.  
  
"Make sure to venture with this new opportunity, for it is better to live in reality then to dwell on dreams."   
  
And with that Cho climbed down the ladder from the Divination room looking at her red slip in wonder. She was very curious on to who her new pen pal was, if they were nice, and if she would be able to pour her heart out to this particular person.  
  
Alrightie, I'ma end it there. This is chapter one, I hope you guys like it, Chapter two will be up soon made by the second person who I share this account with, her name is Brittni!! ^_^ And it will continue on to swish back and forth so please review please!! Thank you! ^_^ 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Chapter 2 made by Brittni! ^_^ And yes you do get two chapters a piece after a lot of reviews so review review review!!  
  
Hermione awoke to a shudder, chill air breathing down her back. She yawned, sitting up and stretching, before glancing around the room. Everyone else was asleep, either snoring soundly or tossing inside their blankets. She quickly got dressed in her robes, brushing her hair hastily, and headed downstairs. The common rooms were quiet, filled with the fresh smell of sweets, seeming how they had barely just arrived at Hogwarts and were still busy celebrating their return. She snuggled into the couch, propping up a book against her legs and putting a paper over it. Looking at the paper made her heart leap with joy. A secret pen pal sounded brilliant! It was like someone to confide in without regretting herself afterwards. She inked her quill and began to write.  
  
"Dear Secret Pen Pal,  
  
It's a pleasure to meet you. I would tell you more about myself, but since I am going to be confiding in you my deepest secrets and confessions, I guess its best not to get a little too carried away. I will tell you that I'm very glad that I get to find out what you're like and what you do for fun. Anyhoo, I'll write a lot more next time I meet you. I'll be excited to see what you're like.  
  
Yours Truly,  
  
Kittentail"  
  
She stared back at her letter with interest. It seemed to all fit, for a beginning to things. She smiled in high hopes, folding up the letter gracefully and heading off beyond the portrait to take it to the Owlery. A picture of all the possible people she could be writing to flooded her mind. What if she got Neville? That would be awkward. She could just imagine, as she entered the tower, what sort of things he would probably write.  
  
"Dear Kittentail," She thought, thinking up a response Neville would most likely say. "My granny says pen pals are useless, but I think their great! I love collecting weird plants. What a hobby! Maybe if we ever meet we could go looking for strange plants. It's great fun. Granny says it's useless, but I think it's absolutely WONDERFUL!"  
  
She giggled, shaking her head to get the memory of Neville's dumb expression out of her mind. What if it was Colin Creevey? She winced with pain, thinking of his response.  
  
"Dear, Kittentail. WOW! You seem great! Say, are you by any chance friends and/or related to Harry Potter? Taking pictures of him is my favorite thing to do! I absolutely love it. The way his scar hurts when dangers around, it's so.... so bold!"  
  
She covered her mouth to stop fits of giggles flowing out of it. That would be dreadful. She entered the Owlery, looking around to see if anyone was around. The only sound was the shudder and random hooting of owls. She crossed the straw-floor and over to the school owls.  
  
"Hello there," She said, smiling, and stroking the owls wing. "You know what to do with this, I suppose." She said, handing the owl her parchment. It gave her a slight nip and took off out of the window.  
  
As she watched it go, she couldn't help but wonder if she had made a good impression. But she quickly shrugged it off, knowing her response would come in good time.  
  
As she walked back to the common room, she began thinking up more possibilities to people who could be her secret pen pal. Being deep in thought, she didn't once look up to notice Cho was coming her way. Cho seemed a bit to rushed to notice, though. Suddenly the two of them crashed into each other, falling backwards and wincing with pain.  
  
"What the..." Hermione began, sitting up and looking at whoever just collided with her. "Oh! Hello, Cho!"  
  
A pretty, asian girl with long raven hair stared back at her. Her hand was to her head.  
  
"Oh!" Hermione said, getting herself up and hoisting Cho up, as well. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see you. I was lost in thought..."  
  
"That's fine…" Cho said with a half smile. "It just hurts a bit."  
  
"I'm so sorry," Hermione began again. "I really wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."  
  
"No problem," Cho said, rubbing her head.  
  
They both stared at each other in silence for a moment.  
  
"Well, I should be getting back to the common room," Hermione said after a few seconds. "I'll see you around."  
  
"Likewise," Cho said with a smile, both of them heading in different directions.  
  
Hermione couldn't help wondering what Cho would be up to this early, but she didn't quite care, to tell the truth. She walked back into the Common Room, as Harry and Ron just appeared at the stairs.  
  
"Hermione," Ron said, yawning loudly. "What are you doing up so early?"  
  
"Delivering a letter," She said, heading back up to the girls dormitory to feed Crookshanks. 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Here's Chapter 3 made by me Jen ^_^  
  
Cho continued to rub her head slightly. As she turned around to make sure Hermione was gone, she went over to the Owlery preparing to write a letter to her new pen pal. As she reached for a quill and ink one of the school owls had lightly nipped one of her fingers. She saw a piece of parchment tied to them. Cho grazed through the owls beautiful feathers as she untied the letter from its leg.   
  
"Thank you…" Cho said quietly as she looked at the parchment.   
  
The owl nipped her finger affectionately again and flew off to its resting post. Cho folded the parchment out and began to read her pen pals letter. After a couple of smiles and giggles, she had finished and was relieved to see that her pen pal was a kind person. It was almost like an instant click and Cho immediately began to write down a response.  
  
"Dear-"   
  
But before Cho could even get the first sentence down she heard the door to the Owlery open. And in came someone she didn't really want to see…Harry and his best friend, Ron Weasley. Cho quickly got her stuff together and rushed off, leaving Ron bewildered and Harry confused.   
  
"Why do you keep on running away Cho? What are you so afraid of?" A voice said in her head.   
  
Cho just sighed and look back to the Owlery Door, putting her hand on one of the panels. She had the urge to just go back and continue to write, maybe start a conversation with Harry. But she couldn't, it seemed like her legs were stiff as wood. She breathed in again and turned the corner heading back to the Ravenclaw common room.   
  
~***************~  
  
"Why is she so uptight these days? Harry, what did you do? Did your ghastly charm scare her off?" Ron asked jokingly while eating a chocolate frog.   
  
"Believe me on this Ron, girls are really hard to interpret, even harder then potions class." Harry said as he was working on a letter to his own pen pal.  
  
"'Hoo 'ou 'ritin' 'oo'?" Ron asked his mouth full from the chocolate frog.  
  
"Er…come again?" Harry said raising his eyebrow.   
  
Ron gulped. "Who you writing to?" He said again.   
  
"The pen pal I was assigned to, personally by Dumbledore." Harry said writing quickly on the parchment.   
  
Ron frowned. He knew Harry was being put under special treatment especially since everybody knew that Lord Voldemort was back. He was walked to classes by teachers to assure his safety in the school, his Quidditch plays were to be monitored by a teacher to make sure no kinks would turn up. Basically things would be a little more hectic then usual for Harry.   
  
"Maybe my pen pal will be Cho…" Harry said quietly.   
  
"You know I would've thought that you were over her already…by the way you were acting last year when she waved at you." Ron said gulping down yet another chocolate frog.   
  
"Yeah but that was when I thought she could actually go so low as to go with that Michael fellow. What did you do to him anyway, he's terrified to even go near a Weasley now." Harry said laughing slightly as he folded the parchment up.  
  
"Lets just say…that this Michael bloke will never forget who he was messing with." Ron said.   
  
Harry laughed and got one of the school owls to take his letter off to his pen pal. And with that they both left heading for the Great Hall to meet Hermione.  
  
****************************  
  
Cho was writing down a response quickly in her parchment as it was time to head down to grab something to eat before classes.   
  
"Dear Kittentail,   
  
It's a pleasure to be sending you these letters, to repent and express my feelings and emotions. I guess I automatically put my trust in you since we don't really know each others real names yet. You seem very nice and articulate though and I'm predicting this will be a very nice couple of weeks. I'm 17, in Ravenclaw, heading for my last year here in Hogwarts. I just hope that this year will be a little better with no fear. So…er…well hope to hear from you soon and um…I guess you can choose the topic to write about.   
  
Sincerely,  
  
RavenAngel"  
  
Cho folded the parchment up and tied it to a brown school owl. She soon found her friends heading down from the Dormitories.   
  
"Come on Cho lets go! We've heard about these rumours going around that Michael is going through some DEEP hallucinations. It's like he's been scared out of his life!" One of her friends exclaimed.   
  
"Alright just let me get my stuff." Cho said.  
  
She gathered up all her stuff and could see the brown owl still flying out of sight. She put her bag over her shoulders, thinking about who her pen pal might be, if they would still be nice in return, and how the Michael Hallucination episodes would go as she ran off to join her friends in the Great Hall.   
  
Alrightie please review! ^_^ Next chappy goes to Britni ^^;; Hope this chapter was ok…short but I hope itz good. 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: We don't own Harry Potter!! Here'z chappie 4 made by me,brittney!!  
  
"Bet you anything she was writing to Krum again!!" Ron said as they sat down in the Great Hall. Harry simply laughed and shrugged,not really caring if she was or wasnt writing to Krum.  
  
"I mean come on!! They've been having this stupid Pen-Pal relationship going on forever!!" Ron said,still dwelling on the subject,and stuffing a mouthful of chocolate frog into his mouth.  
  
Harry was about to say he didn't really care that much,but just then a brown colored owl swooped in front the overhead window and landed next to his mince pie,sticking out it's leg for him to untie the letter from.  
  
They both looked at it for a moment before untying it, as Harry began to read. "Huh? Ravenwing??? This must be Hermione's.. my pen pal's name is Dragoneye. It got the wrong person-"  
  
But just then Hermione entered the room,hurrying over to them and sat down."Oh!!"She said,taking the letter from Harry."That would be mine.My,she responds fast."  
  
Harry grinned at Ron,who was now cornering his mince pie with a devious expression.Hermione quickly read the letter and smiled."She sounds sweet." She said,showing them the letter.  
  
"Sounds like some preppy lass,"Ron said examining the letter again.  
  
"She sounds nice!!"Hermione said,narrowing her eyes.He was always so negative about stuff!! She opened her mouth to say something,but the look on Harry's face made her stop.  
  
"Harry-" She began,but the answer to her question appeared,walking through the door. It wuz Cho.  
  
"Harry,you've got to get over her."Hermione said,feeling pity for him... He was now very pale.  
  
"I don't know what's going on, I don't really like her,it's just whenever I see her-"  
  
"Get a hold of yourself,mate!!"Ron said with a curious look. "She's just in the relationship for the fact that she has a boyfriend.You don't deserve her!"  
  
"Yeah."Harry said,looking down.  
  
"Ron,I don't think it's your place to make judgements,"Hermione protested,not wanting to start a fight but she could tell Harry still had at least some feelings for her."Harry can figure out what she is for himself."  
  
But she was cut short,because Draco,Crabbe,and Goyle were making their way over to them.  
  
"Hiya, Weasel!"He said cheerfully. "And hiya to you too, Potty!! I heard you were back on the team. Poor Gryffindor,two of the worst Quidditch players ever to be seen in Hogwarts,and on the same team. What a shame!"  
  
"Get a life,Malfoy."Ron said turning slightly pink.  
  
"Weasel,Weasel,Weasel.." He said shaking his head and grinning. "Why don't YOU get a life? Oh,wait,I forgot..You don't have enough money to purchase one!!"  
  
Draco,Crabbe,and Goyle all howled with laughter. Harry was about to pull out his wand when Hermione stopped him.  
  
"Go away, you idiot!" She said with anger,trying hard to keep Harry from attacking him. Ron was staring at his plate,completely scarlet.  
  
"Sure" Draco said his smile turning to a cheerful one. They walked away just as Draco gave Hermione a wink.  
  
"What the bloody hell was that!!!?" Ron asked,too shocked to be embarrassed anymore.  
  
"I- have no idea." Hermione said turning a little pink.  
  
"Ewww.. You dont suppose he likes you, do you?" Ron said with a disgusted look.  
  
"Ronald Weasely!!" Hermione exclaimed. "That is SO typical! If anyone likes me, your all defensive. First Krum, now Malfoy. Well- I can tell if you hate Malfoy- but that's not the point. Ugh.. I'm going to study!!"  
  
She then stormed out of the Great Hall,heading off towards the Common Room.  
  
  
  
~***************~  
  
Hermione examined the letter again, which had been clenched in her fist throughout the whole fiasco. She unfolded it and re-read it, smiling to herself. She was back in the Common Room,sitting on the couch with a book propped up against her stomache and a peice of parchment ontop. She winkly inked her quill and began to respond:  
  
"Dear RavenAngel,  
  
Its a pleasure to talk to you again. Now that weve introduced ourselves, I guess its alright for me to ask advice at this point. Well here it goes.  
  
What if someone whos been your enemy,suddenly likes you alot? I really hadnt noticed at all,but he seems to be alot nicer to me now.My friends and I have been enemies with him since first year,but hes suddenly acting loyal and sweet.If your going to ask, he isnt ugly.Infact hes rather cute...Im always open for giving people second chances,but Im not sure if this is worth it.Hes still rude to my friends,anyway.  
  
So... do you have advice?  
  
Signed,  
  
Kittentail."  
  
She held out the letter for her to see,before taking off to the Owlry to send it. A barn owl hooted and flew over to her,and she wrapped it around his leg and watched it fly out the window.It was now late afternoon,and she felt a bit bad for storming off on Harry and Ron like that... so she set off for the Great Hall to see if they were there.  
  
*********  
  
K datz da 4rth chappie!!:) Jen take it frum here.. 


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